A New Locality of Mesobuthus gibbosus (Brullé, 1832) from Montenegro (Scorpiones: )

Oskar Wiśniewski & Barbara Olech

August 2015 — No. 205

Euscorpius Occasional Publications in Scorpiology

EDITOR: Victor Fet, Marshall University, ‘[email protected]’ ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Michael E. Soleglad, ‘[email protected]’

Euscorpius is the first research publication completely devoted to (Arachnida: Scorpiones). Euscorpius takes advantage of the rapidly evolving medium of quick online publication, at the same time maintaining high research standards for the burgeoning field of science (scorpiology). Euscorpius is an expedient and viable medium for the publication of serious papers in scorpiology, including (but not limited to): systematics, evolution, ecology, biogeography, and general biology of scorpions. Review papers, descriptions of new taxa, faunistic surveys, lists of museum collections, and book reviews are welcome.

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The name Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 refers to the most common of scorpions in the Mediterranean region and southern Europe (family Euscorpiidae).

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Publication date: 25 August 2015 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:84143284-132B-4342-ACB1-7C3433F75492 Euscorpius — Occasional Publications in Scorpiology. 2015, No. 205

A new locality of Mesobuthus gibbosus (Brullé, 1832) from Montenegro (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

Oskar Wiśniewski 1 & Barbara Olech 2

1 College of Inter-Faculty Individual Studies in Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Warsaw, Poland; email: [email protected]

2 Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Poland

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:84143284-132B-4342-ACB1-7C3433F75492

Summary

A new locality close to northwestern boundary of the geographic range is reported for Mesobuthus gibbosus (Brullé, 1832), from Montenegro, Crmnica Region, near Virpazar (42º13' N 19º06' E).

Introduction thern boundary of the second species, , reaches even higher latitude; there are records Mesobuthus gibbosus (Brullé, 1832) (Scorpiones: from localities close to 50°N (Gromov, 2001). The Buthidae) is a relatively large (up to 85 mm) yellow or northernmost record of M. eupeus came from Orenburg brown-yellowish scorpion (Kinzelbach, 1975). It prefers Province (Russia) (Davygora & Rusakov, 2001). This arid and semi-arid habitats. The species is widespread in location lies at 51º13' N 57º75' E (Fet, 2010). The proposed limiting factor for Mesobuthus is the presence the Anatolia and the Balkan Peninsula; in the Balkans, it is the only member of family Buthidae. The confirmed of unfavorable type of soil (Gromov, 2001). The northern boundary of Mesobuthus gibbosus in locality reports came from Albania, Bulgaria, Europe is less well known. The localities in Montenegro Macedonia, Greece, Montenegro, and the European part constitute presumably the very northwestern boundary of Turkey (Fet, 2010). of this species. The northeastern boundary was estab- Mesobuthus gibbosus has been a subject of several lished by Teruel et al. (2004), who reported M. gibbosus recent studies. Its population genetics has been studied from the Pirin Mountains (Bulgaria). The latitude of the in Turkey and Greece by Gantenbein & Largiadèr Bulgarian locality is comparable to the localities men- (2002) and Gantenbein & Keightley (2004). Parmakelis tioned below for Montenegro. A verification is needed et al. (2006) published a detailed phylogeographic study on how permanent is the Bulgarian population since of M. gibbosus from Turkey and Greece based on DNA only a single specimen was found. markers. It is believed that the genus Mesobuthus orig- The distribution of M. gibbosus in Montenegro is inates from Central Asia, and that M. gibbosus is the poorly known due to the fact that this territory was a part Anatolian species that dispersed into Europe. Its of former Yugoslavia; numerous country records con- complex history has been influenced by a variety of cern Yugoslavia as a whole, without precise data. fragmentation factors and dispersal events. The The majority of publications dealing with the Bal- Mediterranean region when the basin had desiccated kan scorpions has been devoted to the species of the during the Messinian Salinity Crisis when Medi- genus Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (fam. Euscorpiidae), terranean islands were connected to the continental land while the single species of Buthidae received much less mass for ca. 100,000 years (Gantenbein & Keightley, attention. Hadži (1931) reported a specimen of M. 2004). The period of dryness was followed by the gibbosus collected near Podgorica, Montenegro (42º Zanclean flood, when the Mediterranean Sea has been 26'N) (deposited in the Museum of Sarajevo, currently refilled (ca. 5.33 million years ago). Therefore, this the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina). He genus has a potential to be a very interesting object of also mentioned a specimen collected by Stanko Karaman ecological and biogeographical research. in Rudnik, Pčinja District in southern Serbia (about Two Asian species of Mesobuthus are known to 42º45' N). Since that publication, this species has not reach relatively high northern latitudes. The northern been formally reported from Montenegro for years. boundary of Mesobuthus caucasicus in Kazakhstan Kovařík (1999) in his review mentioned M. gibbosus for follows latitudes above 45°N (Gromov, 2001). The nor- Yugoslavia without a specific location. Radosavljevic & 2 Euscorpius — 2015, No. 205

Figures 1–2: Habitat of Mesobuthus gibbosus, Skadar Lake National Park, Montenegro (top). A juvenile Mesobuthus gibbosus from Skadar Lake National Park (bottom).

Ilic (2009) reported a case study on scorpionism of the part of the country; however, no detailed information has species from Montenegro. These authors recorded been published. patients stung by a scorpion in Krimovica (Kotor The goal of this paper is to report a new locality of District). Pesic (personal communication, 2013) claimed Mesobuthus gibbosus near Skadar Lake National Park that M. gibbosus is “relatively abundant” in the southern (Montenegro).

Wiśniewski & Olech: Mesobuthus gibbosus from Montenegro 3

Figure 3: The northernmost localities of Mesobuthus gibbosus (marked with dots): blue, Krimovica (Radosavljevic & Ilic, 2009); red, Skadar Lake (collection by the first author); yellow, Rudnik (Hadži, 1931); green, Pirin Mountains (Teruel et al., 2004).

Material and Methods of the lake makes it the largest one at the Balkan Peninsula. It is a transboundary lake (Monte- The scorpions were observed and collected by O.W. negro/Albania) in the outer part of the south-eastern during two field trips to Montenegro in 2013 and 2014. Dinaric Alps. Geologically, its basin is of karstic The area of collection is located in the northeastern part character, as well as its surroundings. The lake is of Lake Skadar. This is a region where garrigue plant situated in the Zeta-Skadar valley, about 7 km from the community dominates (calcareous soil). The specimens coast of the Adriatic Sea. were collected underneath stone during daytime and pre- This part of the Balkan Peninsula is considered to served in 70% ethanol. Material was deposited in the belong to the Mediterranean climate region, which collections of the Faculty of Biology, University of War- means long, hot summers and mild, rainy winters occur. saw. Matvejev & Puncer distinguished several types of landscapes in the proposed “Skadar Lake region” A new locality of Mesobuthus gibbosus (Crnobrnja-Isailovic & Dzukic, 1995; Matvejev & Puncer, 1991). Generally, Mediterranean and Submedi- 1. Montenegro, Crmnica Region, near Virpazar terranean habitats with evergreen woodlands and maquis (42º13' N 19º06' E), a viewpoint located on rocky are dominant. A typical floral element of Mediterranean (limestones) lake east-facing slope, 80 m asl, brown landscape, Quercus ilex, is widespread in this area. and red soil, 4 September 2013, 1 juvenile. According to the data provided by the Institute of Hydrometeorology and Seismology of Montenegro 2. Same locality (42º13' N 19º06' E), 70 m asl, 12- (IHMS, www.meteo.co.me) the average winter tem- 13 July 2014, 3 juveniles. peratures recorded at Virpazar (a town located nearby the northeastern part of Lake Skadar) are noticeably Climatology and Biogeography of Skadar Lake higher than those observed in the northern and central Region part of the country. All months in Virpazar have the average monthly temperature above 0 °C. The coldest Lake Skadar (Shkodra) has a total surface area that month is January with an average temperature of 4.2 °C seasonally fluctuates between 370 to 530 km2. The size (Mrdak et al., 2011). 4 Euscorpius — 2015, No. 205

From a zoogeographical point of view the Skadar territories. Gaspompechat: Orenburg, pp. 210–211 Lake region is located in the Palearctic ecozone. How- (in Russian). ever, species typical for the Afrotropical ecozone are also found here (e.g. the permanent presence of the FET, V. 2010. Scorpions of Europe. Acta zoologica bul- African cuckoo and flamingo has been noted) (Mrdak et garica, 62(1): 3–12. al., 2011). GANTENBEIN, B. & P. D. KEIGHTLEY. 2004. Rates of molecular evolution in nuclear genes of East Conclusions Mediterranean scorpions. Evolution, 58: 2486– 2497. The juvenile specimens have been found for two seasons, which indicates a reproducing population. The GANTENBEIN, B. & C. R. LARGIADÈR. 2002. habitat appears to be typical for M. gibbosus. Despite the Mesobuthus gibbosus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) on the fact that Skadar Lake is localized in a karst valley island of Rhodes: hybridization between Ulysses’ (which are characterized by generally more severe cli- stowaways and native scorpions? Molecular Eco- mate than the rest of southern Montenegro; IHMS data), logy, 11: 925–938. the area seems to be suitable for this species. The climate at this place is affected by the proximity of the GROMOV, A. V. 2001. The northern boundary of Adriatic Sea and relative low height of the mountains scorpions in Central Asia. Pp. 301–306 in: Fet, V. & parallel to the coast. P. A. Selden (eds.) Scorpions 2001. In memoriam The most important further issue is to recognize Gary A. Polis. Burnham Beeches, Bucks: British whether a continuous population of M. gibbosus exists in Arachnological Society. this region. The northern boundary of this species’ range remains unclear, and further studies will be helpful to HADŽI, J. 1931. Geografski razmestaj skorpija u Ju- understand its ecology. Additionally, it should be noted goslaviji (Geographic distribution of scorpions in that this region is frequently visited by tourists. The Yugoslavia). Pp. 126–129 in: Zbornik Radova na III presence of a potentially dangerous scorpion may affect Congresu Slovenskikh Geografa i Etnografa u the safety of people (Lebez et al., 1980; Radosavljevic & Yugoslaviyi 1930 (Transactions of the III Congress Ilic, 2009; Pajovic et al., 2014). of Slovenian Geographers and Ethnographers in Yugoslavia, 1930) (in Serbo-Croatian). Acknowledgments INSTITUTE OF HYDROMETEOROLOGY AND

SEISMOLOGY OF MONTENEGRO. Website: The authors are most grateful to Dr. Mikołaj K. http://www.meteo.co.me/misc.php?text=27&sektor Zapalski (Faculty of Geology, Univeristy of Warsaw) =1 (accessed: 30 July 2015). and Jan Ove Rein (University of Trondheim) for their critical revision and very useful suggestions to the KINZELBACH, R. 1975. Die Skorpione der Ägäis. manuscript. They also wish to thank Dr. Andrzej Czubaj Beitrage zur Systematik, Phylogenie und Bio- and Dariusz Malachniuk (Faculty of Biology, University geographie. Zoologische Jahrbücher. Abteilung für of Warsaw) for supplying a microscope to examine the Systematik, Ökologie und Geographie der Tiere, specimen and Prof. Victor Fet (Department of Biological 102: 12–50. Sciences, Marshall University, WA, USA) for sharing research literature and his comments. KOVAŘÍK, F. 1999. Review of European scorpions, with a key to species. Serket, 6(2): 38–44. References LEBEZ, D., Z. MARETIC, J. LADAVAC & M. CRNOBRNJA-ISAILOVIC, J. & G. DZUKIC. 1995. MEDEN. 1980. Mesobuthus gibbosus–A potentially First report about conservation status of herpeto- dangerous European scorpion. 8 Inter-nationaler fauna in the Skadar Lake Region (Montenegro): Arachnologen Kongress, Wien, pp. 187–190. Current situtation and perspectives. Scientia Her- petologica, 1995: 373–380. MATVEJEV, S. D. & I. J. PUNCER. 1991. Landscape Types of Yugoslavia – a Map of Biomes. 2nd DAVYGORA, A. V. & A. V. RUSAKOV. 2001. About abbreviated edition. Ljubljana. northern limits of Mesobuthus eupeus and Galeodes pallasi spreading in the south Ural steppes. In: MRDAK, D., D. PETROVIC, A. KATNIC & M. Biodiversity and bioresources of Urals and adjacent ERCEG. 2011. Integrated study to support the Wiśniewski & Olech: Mesobuthus gibbosus from Montenegro 5

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